Incubator



Oct. 4, 193 c. R. BRATTON ET AL INCUBATOR Filed March 1, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I A itomey Oc't- 1932- c. R. BRATTON ET AL 1,881,113

INCUBATOR Filed March 1. 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 v lnveniord" f Z5. (Era 772/7 a 9 13 By I 9 642..

A iiqmey Patented Oct. 4, 1932 omrno f STATES PATENT, OFFICE GLAIR R. BRATTON AND CECIL S. MINER, F BURLINGAME, KANSAS INCUBATOB,

' A pl cation med um 1,

incubators. h

The primary object of this invention is to provide an incubator of large capacity and of such construction and arrangement and so equipped as to maintain a temperature of uniform degree within an inner casing equipped with a plurality of hatching tray compartments, and at all points in the inner chamber 19 without the use of mechanical means'to stir the air in the inner chamber,

A further object of this invention is to so evolve an incubator wherein 'a pluralityof 'chambers in which hatching trays are arranged" will have a uniform temperature, when a suflicient quantity of air is circulated between inner and outer casings to carry enough heat units to offset the difference in temperature within and without the outside casing. v

Y A'still further object of the'invention is to provide an incubator of the character above mentioned, which is comparatively simple in construction, thoroughly reliable, practical and efficient in operation and otherwise well adapted for the purpose designed. Otherobjects and advantages of theinvention' will'become apparent during a study of g the following description, taken in connection "9 with the accompanying drawings, wherein.:- Figure 1 isa front elevational viewofthe preferred form of the invention. e i V Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken therethrough. V I 1 v Figure 3 is a transverse sectional View 1 taken through a modified form of the invention. Figure 4 is a fragmentary detail sectional 0 view illustrative of the manner of arranging the egg trays Within individual compartments'whichth'e incubator comprises.

With reference more in detail to the drawings, and more particularly "to Figures 1 and 2, it will be seen that the embodiment of the invention therein illustrated, comprises a relatively large outer casing5 which outer casing 5 is constructed' 'from any suitable insulating material. Arranged within the out- This invention relates to improvements in er casing 5 is an inner casing designated gen- "erally by the reference character 6. The in- 1930. semi 422,433. 7

ner casing 6 may be mounted within the outer casing 5 in any suitable manner, and said inner casing 6 has all the walls thereof disposed in spaced relation to the corresponding walls of the outer casing 5 so as to provide between said inner and outer casings an air circulating passage 7. At one end theouter casing 5 is provided with a suitable entrance opening 8, and a suitablyhinged door 9 is provided for closing the opening.

It is also to be noted that the inner casing 6 is preferably constructed of metal being somewhat in the nature of a shell.

Arranged within the inner casing 5 preferably in series or rows are a plurality of individual egg chambers designated generally by the reference character 10. The'egg chambers 10 are identical in construction each being equipped with a suitablehinged door 11, thedoor 11 at the lower portion thereof being provided with a series of transversely extending louvres or vent openings 12. v

v Arranged in the space 7' between the rear 1 walls of the inner and outer casings is a 7 horizontal partition or platform 13 having an opening 14 formed therein. Operable within the opening 14; is a fan 15 driven from a suitable electric motor 16*suitably mounted above the partition 13. Arranged below the partition 13 is a steam circulating coil 17 the inlet and outlet 18 and 19, re- I spectively, thereof being disposed exteriorly of the outer casing 5 as clearly shown to advantage in Figure 2. A cold air inlet pipe 21 hasits discharge end arranged in a suitable opening 22 in the rear wall of the outer casing directly above the platform 13 so that as indicated by the arrows cold airfentering into the space 7 from the intake pipe 17 will be drawn downwardly through the opening 14 to circulate within the outer casing 5 entirely about the casing 6. At oneend thereof, and adjacent thebottom thereof the eas- 'ing 6'is provided with a suitable perforated plug 23 through the perforations of which hot air enters the inner casing 6.

Obviously the heated air passing into the inner casing 6 will also pass into the open ings 12 in the doors 11 of the compartments butthat ,theheated air circulating within is casing 5; [Each of the sections a andvb may l0 to circulate 1 ments 10.

Exteriorly of the casing is an exhaust within each of the compart manifold pipe 24 having branches 25 leading therefrom to the compartments 1O sothat obviously the heated air circulating upward- 'ly through each of the compartments 10 will pass out of the branch 25 leading tothe compartment into them'anifold 24 to be exhausted through the outlet 26 of the manifold.

is Arranged withineach of; the compartments 10 is a series of v superimposed spaced trays 27 within which the eggs to be hatched are deposited, f Each of the-trays 27 will, of course,:have a 'screening or wire mesh bottom Y 1 :Fromfthe foregoing'then it will be seen that the air heated through contact with the j coil 17 willbe agitated'to flow through the passage 7 through the medium of the fan15 the; inner "casing 6 and 'through'the individu'al'egg receiving compartments 10 will not injany Way be stirred up'or agitated by mechanical means arranged either in the inner casing 6 or in the'i'ndividual compartments 110'. However, as is obvious, the heated air within thecasing 6 and the individual compartments 1O will remain at an even temperature, so that'thetemperature'within each of the compartments 10 will be substantially the same; i

y In; that embodiments of the invention shown in F igure 3 it will be seen that I have designated the" outer insulated casing gen- .erally bythe reference character 5 and within the outer 'casing'5 is disposed an inner casing; designated generally by the reference character 6, inthis instance the inner casmg 6 comprlsing a pair of sectlons (1 aud t,

respectively, the sections being preferablyseparate but of identical construction As shownto advantage,'the sections extend in spaced parallelismto one another andl in spaced relation to the Walls of the outer I be in thenature of a. single egg receiving c0m-partment5 orjas is ob'vious through the medium of vertically arranged spaced partitions may bedivided' into a plurality of receiving,"compartments; The compart n'ents'. are designated generally by"-th'e ref- I erencelcharacter'27, access being had to the between the casing sectionsa and b.

compartments through suitable hinged doors 28 by one-'standingjinthe space 29 Thetop walls of the sections are extended inwardlyfacross the front ofthe space 29 j tojzterminatefin spaced parallelism with one another as clearly 'suggested'in Figure, 3. Bridging the] space between the top walls 0f the sectionsa and Z) and having its ends secured'toe the} section walls, is a bracket 30,

which bracketBO supports a suitable velectric motor 3lwhich operates a fan carried 40 depending partment 27. V

' skilled in V-the' thereby and extending betweenthe adjacent edges of the top walls of the sections a and b.

Of course,the'casing 6'iis spaced at all 7 points from the outer casing 5", forming therebetween a hot air passage 32. Arranged in the passage 32loetWeen the top Wall of the casing 6 and the top wall ofthe casing 5' adjacent the n1otor 31 is a steam coil 33.

The top wall of the outer casing 5" above the coil 33 is provided with a cold air intake I openingfi iwithin which opening is received 7 the flanged-end of a cold air intake pipe 35.

the lower ends of the doors 28 adjacent-the bottom walls of the compartments27 are lation an d -suitably connected one to the thereof connectedto the top walls ofJcom- The doors28 of thecompartments 27 at" the lower endsthereoffare providedwith air inlet openings'or l'ouvres 36, while below other.v The uppermosttrayof each series at theends thereof: will be provided withsuitable suspension hooks 39,701" similar suspension elements forengagement with hangers from the top wall of the 160111:

In operation; it. will. be seen thatr 'as the first embodiment of the inventiomthe cold air entering the space 32 will be heated by contact with the 'steamcoil 33- andcirculated'through the passage 22, the' 'heated air exterior vof the. compartment 27 being agitated by the fan 32. while the air passing upwardly and aboutsfthe tr ays 27 within the compartments27will have no such mechanical means effecting its circulatiomthe heated air within the'com partments 27 following the. usual course-rising upwardly'flt'o exhaust through; the manifold hereinbefore me'ntionedi, u i

From the io -egoing, it is, thought that .a clear understanding of the operation 'convstr'uction, utility and advantages of incubators of this character will behad bythose description. p Havingxthus described our 1nvent1on what we ,claimas new 1' s'f:' e

f In an incubatonj-anf outer casing having- 'walls, an nner casing within'the outerlcas ing, and-having'all'sides thereof spaced from the walls of saidoiiter casing therebydefining a chamber completely surrounding the inner casing, a plurality :of: separate egg .re-

art witliQut a more detailed I ceivingcompartments within theinner ,cas-

ing, an. airinlet means connected too the upper portion of the outer casing and communi- V eating with saidch'amber, avfan. arranged adjacentsaid airpinlet means and a "3 blowing element to induce a circulation of air through said chamber and about all the sides of said inner casing, said inner casing being provided with means establishing communication between said inner casing and sald chamber, and an exhaust manifold having branches separately connected to said egg receiving compartments, said egg receiving compartments being provided With inlet means for the admission of the air admitted V to the inner casing.

In testimony whereof We affix our signa- 

